21	ULCER AND MAO

The ulcer began in Germany, and it gradually got worse. A bleeding ulcer. Early in 1968, while I was at a philosophical convention in Rome, I had to go to bed and stay there, immobile, for two weeks. What could I do? Be patient and read.

Back in Turin I was admitted to hospital, at the Molinette. They operated.

Away from the university and the daily grind I relaxed a bit, began to unwind.

I left the hospital and convalesced at San Remo with my mother, my brother-in-law, and my sister.

I read continually, stuff I hadn’t had time or opportunity to read before. I read Herbert Marcuse’s Eros and Civilization, and especially Soviet Marxism, in French because they weren’t yet out in Italian.

On March 13, 1968 (unforgettable), I woke up a Maoist. I drafted a note I still have around here somewhere entitled “Why Mao.” Period.

For me everything was changing: politics, private life. Everything.

As for Studi cattolici . . . they weren’t so far off the mark after all.